Nanocarbons as represented by fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and carbon nanohorns have attracted interest, and expectations are high for their potential application as electronic material, catalyst, and biological material.
Of particular interest to the present inventor among such nanocarbons is the fullerene derivative, and the present inventor has recently successfully developed a supramolecular assembly assembled from fullerene derivatives (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
As described in Patent Literature 1, the supramolecular assembly has the nanoassembly backbone constructed from the bilayer membrane structure formed by the fullerene derivatives of the following formula. The fullerene structure based on the bilayer membrane structure is assembled in a lamellar fashion.

In the formula, R1 and R2 are alkyl chains having at least 20 carbon atoms, and R3 is a hydrogen atom, or an alkyl chain having at least 20 carbon atoms. X is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group. Fu is a fullerene such as C60, C70 and C76.
The supramolecular assembly of Patent Literature 1 has a fractal structure, and exhibits superhydrophobicity. Further, because of the high specific surface area, the supramolecular assembly of Patent Literature 1 can be an adsorption support.
The method for producing the supramolecular assembly of Patent Literature 1 includes the steps of mixing the fullerene derivative of the foregoing formula with 1,4-dioxane, heating the resulting mixture, aging the mixture, and applying a solution that contains the precipitates obtained in the aging step.
However, the supramolecular assembly obtained as above cannot be said as a film of desirable quality, because of the low monodispersity of the fullerene structure. It would thus be desirable if a film of desirable quality could be obtained in which the fullerene derivative bilayer membrane structure provides the nanoassembly backbone.